Finding the Job You Want – Josh’s Story

One morning last week, I took a call from Josh. He told me that he bought our book “High Probability Selling” and read it 8 times. However, he hasn’t been able to sell anything.

“What have you been selling?” I asked.

“A network marketing business opportunity,” said Josh. “I must be doing something wrong, because I know High Probability Selling has to work.”

“High Probability Selling doesn’t work for network marketing. How did you get into that?” I asked.

“I was invited to a seminar and the presenter explained how you can make a ton of money in network marketing, I mean two or three hundred thousand a year. A lot of people are making more than one hundred thousand in their first year.”

“Do you really believe that?” I asked.

“Yes, is there something wrong with it?”

“Well how are you doing?” I asked.

“I tried to sell the opportunity but nobody is interested,” he said.

“That’s probably because you’re not very good at lying,” I said. “You must realize by now that the presenter was lying to you and to everyone else in the seminar.”

“I kind of suspected it, but they must be very good liars,” he said. “So, what kind of business can I get into where I can make a lot of money without lying?”

“Do you have experience selling anything?”

“No, but I think I can learn to sell,” he said.

I asked, “Why do you think that?”

“Because I read your book and I just know I could sell that way.”

“What kind of work have you done in the past?”

“Mostly light construction, like home improvements. But there are no jobs now because all of the skilled construction workers are fighting over the home improvement jobs. And, there are not enough of those jobs around.”

“Some people make good money selling life insurance. However, only about ten percent who go into that field survive.” I said.

“Do you think I could make it selling life insurance?” said Josh.

“I have no idea. If you have the money, you could have a behavioral profile done that is a very good predictor of how well you will do in almost any profession. But, the good profiles are expensive,” I said. “Can you live on very little commissions while you are learning the business?”

“Yes, I could do that for at least six months, no problem,” he said. “How do I get that kind of job?”

“By doing High Probability Prospecting, just like you read in our book. But, now the product you are selling is you. Can you do that?”

“I guess I’ll find out”, he said.

“Most insurance agencies will not give you a salary. You only get commissions on what you sell,” I said. “Also, make sure that they will let you sell the way you want to sell.”

“Thanks very much,” he said.

I said, “You are welcome,” and we both hung up.

Josh called again a day or two later.

“Well, I got a few job offers. I just need to pass the licensing test,” said Josh. “They told me that it is okay for me to use any sales method I want, as long as it is legal, ethical and does not get them in trouble with the compliance rules of the insurance companies they represent.”

“How did you get the job offers?” I asked.

“Right after I spoke to you, I wrote out a prospecting offer, and called all of the insurance agencies listed on the Internet that are within twenty miles of where I live. On most of those calls I could not even get to talk to anyone in charge. But, I did talk to about ten or fifteen agency managers and three of them asked me to come in for an interview.”

“So you had appointments for 3 job interviews after your first day of prospecting,” I said. “What happened on the interviews?”

“When we met, the agency managers all asked me how I was going to find prospects. I told them that I was going to use the phone to find prospects the same way I found them. They thought that was great, and they all offered me a job.”

“Have you accepted any of the job offers?” I asked.

“No, not yet. I want to finish prospecting my list first, and then decide which job I want.”

I thanked him and asked his permission to write his story on our blog. I also asked him to keep in contact and to let me know how well he does selling life insurance.

Thanks for sharing Josh’s story. I feel just like he does except I’m quite a bit older doing the same things.

I’m enamored and convinced that I could/can sell according the the High-Probability Selling Plan expounded in your book. I too have read and reread the book, get something new each time, and really enjoy how it makes me feel about my selling opportunities.

I was glad that you said the MLM, multi-level marketing will not work with High-Probability Sales. I had wondered about that.

What I want to sell is advertising — monthly mailings that go out to new homeowners in my area introducing local businesses to the newcomers via discounts and coupons inviting them to use their services or products.

Straight forward enough I guess, not MLM, so…why haven’t I been successful yet with your program?

Honesty must prevail here: In the education field it’s a simple by effective concept called “Time on Task.” I always thought it rather ridiculous that we had to have something obvious, so simple and self-evident, put in such formal terms. Of course (I thought) if you don’t spend time teaching spelling, then the students will not learn spelling.

I believe that goes for High- Probability Selling; if I don’t spend the hours prospecting and calling people making my offers, then it’s unlikely I will actually do much selling (of any kind) no matter how wonderful the program or theories.

I just want to reply to Deb Adams and say that High Probability Selling works in the advertising field. The only thing I would recommend is that you first contact businesses that are already advertising in your area and next on your list of prospects only contact business that are geared for retail clients and are generating sales of $500,000 or more.

Thanks Stan for the advice; I will do just that! One successful lady doing this monthly coupon sales does just that, she calls on the people who advertise in the local city magazines, the slick kind that cost $1000(s) per ad. $150-$200 a month would not seem like much of an investment to them. She developed this service (by the way) and is successful. It’s just harder (and not sometimes) to get through the gate keepers; they mostly have ad agencies. Maybe ad agencies might be a good place to call as well. Hmmmm. Interesting new thought.